Speed World Challenge GT - Lime Rock

[Finnus]

Just got back from the race at Lime Rock. It was a miserable day, raining hard all morning - a great day for ducks! Unfortunately, I was up late Sunday night, up early to drive 2 hours to the race & I forgot my camera. Sorry about that, so you'll have to bear with my amateur journalistic efforts. I don't think I quite got all of the details correct, but here are the race results as I recall them:

After the qualifying round at 9AM, Galati (No. 1) and Probst (No. 3) held the #1 & #2 positions, and it looked like the Audi team would have a clear advantage, especially with the opportunity to leap in front of the pack. Bill Auberlen (No. 7 - "lucky 7" in fact) in his Team PTG M3 held the #3 starting position. There were only 20 or so cars in the field.

The 2 Audis both shot ahead of the pack and held #1 & #2 for a fairly short time. Auberlen overtook Galati early and was only about 3 seconds behind Probst for the first half of the race. Probst would blow the M3 away in the long straightaway, but the M3 would make up lost time with very aggressive driving in the curves. (Seems the opposite of what you'd expect, I suspect it has to do with the heavier weight of the RS6.)

Unfortunately, Galati's string of bad luck continued. Although Galati initially maintained third place, about 10-15 seconds behind the leaders, through the first half or so, it was obvious he was having trouble controlling his car down the long straightaway and into the first curve. The car was visibly slipping around - on the straightaway! Once he ran off the track going into the first curve. In the early laps, Galati had a slight accident on the backstretch where I couldn't see, but maintained his position. In the latter part of the race, he lost control (I believe on the same backstretch) and smashed up the car (he appeared fine). It had to be towed, so our hopes rested with Probst versus Team PTG M3which had two or three cars in the leaders group.

To be continued ...

[Finnus]

Probst continued to maintain 1st place by a narrow margin, especially as a result of a few yellow flag laps, where Auberlen caught up. When the race would restart, Probst would take off again, outdistancing the M3, only to have it pretty much catch up in the curves.

Just around the halfway point, Probst lost control in the first turn after the straightaway and slid off of the track. Auberlen pounced on the opportunity and took the lead. Thanks to Quattro, Probst got the RS6 right back on the track, but had given up a 5-6 second lead.

Auberlen maintained that lead throughout the race and finished first about 6 seconds ahead of Probst. Probst took the #2 slot, continuing his winning record with his best finish yet. All in all, it was pretty exciting. If Probst hadn't made that one mistake, he had an excellent shot at winning.

Auberlen’s a hell of a driver, and kept the pressure on Probst throughout the race. He's a perenial winner on this track, and PTG had 3 or four cars in the race.

I suspect Probst and Galati were running on different tires. I believe in the Speed Challenge GT, all drivers run on Toyo tires, but they have wet and dry versions. Probst noted on the Champion Racing website that the “dry” tires were running better on the wet surface. So perhaps to increase Audis chances of winning, Probst ran on the dry tires and Galati on the wet tires.

The race was all about Audi and BMW. Except for Jimmy Adams (No. 77) in his Prosche GT3 who was in the top 3 or 4 throughout much of the race, the Corvettes, Porsches and a stray Mustang didn't have much of a showing.

I'll try to find out where this leaves Probst in the overall Speed GT standings.

Galatis continuous stream of bad luck seems strange in light of Probst's steady success. It probably impractical for Champion to maintain an S4 and an RS 6, but it seems that Galati has much better luck in the S4.


Finnus :cheers:
:addict: :addict: :addict:

[Benman]

finnus,
thanks for the great report. even though mosport is old news,
the race just aired last weekend. i'll have to wait yet another
week before the lime rock race will be on speedchannel but at
least i know that probst has landed a #2 finish (his best yet).

i'm VERY dissapionted to hear that galati's bad luck continues,
as this is certainly NOT what champion is use to. your right about
auberlen, he is an excellent race car driver and knows how to
get the most out of his M3. probst is towards the very top of the
points chart but galati is almost already out of contention due to
the string of bad luck he has had so far with his RS6. i'm hoping
they'll get the problems sorted out soon or the only good THAT
RS6 will do champion is to hold up the rest of the field while
probst can get a good lead over the pack:hihi:
:cheers:

ben:addict: :race:

[Speedracer]

I was there too. Sorry I missed you. Pobst is in fact in first place. Apparently there has been a protest lodged by Champion, for what reason, I have no idea.

[Finnus]

Ben,

Yeah, Galati will be left to "block & tackle". From the outside looking in, it seems like he's not comfortable with the RS 6. I'm sure iit's more than that ... He was so successful with the S4.

Speedracer,

Where were you at LR? I watched from the "outfield" where I had a pretty panoramic view & got to see them open it up down the stretch. I didn't stick around after the race - that is except for the 45 minutes it took me slogging around in the rain looking for my car! LOL

Did you notice how much Galati was sliding around on the start/finish straightaway?

I wonder what Champion's objecting to?

Finnus

[Finnus]

Here's the link to the Champion website including the writeup for the race and the overall point standings (Probst is #1, slightly ahead of Auberlen).

http://www.championracing.net/Audi_RS6/home/audi_rs_6_main.htm

Champion is protesting the tires used by Auberlen.

[Speedracer]

Originally posted by Finnus
Where were you at LR? I watched from the "outfield" where I had a pretty panoramic view & got to see them open it up down the stretch. I didn't stick around after the race - that is except for the 45 minutes it took me slogging around in the rain looking for my car! LOLFinnus [/B]
Finnis—
We went to park in the outfield but the gate was closed and they wouldn't let us in there, so we parked in the infield and went into the paddock. We talked extensively with the Champion personnel, and Marcus, the engineer told us to go onto the platform on top of the truck, so we watched from there. Talking about my upcoming RS6 did wonders for our welcome. It also helped to have full rain gear on. We stayed and watched the Trans Am also.
Speed

[audifan]

I was there too in the infield. I was right by the uphill turn when i saw Galati it the wall. :cry: What a terrible sound! Galati looked pissed when he came out of the poor audi and rightly so.I couldn't believe the M3's were doing so well and the quattro was slipping like crazy! But then i found out about the tire insident. Thats too bad, I was hoping my 3 hour drive would bring an audi win, but the sound of the RS6's engine made up for it. :D :addict:

[Finnus]

Speed,

You lucky dog. I parked in the infield, got the paddock pass, then took the footbridge to the outfield where I viewed the race. I had a good view of the long start/finish straightaway and the first turn, and a spotty view of the 2nd & 3rd turns.

Audifan,

I'm glad I missed the crash, I wouldn't like to have seen that. It was great to see the RS6 charging down the straightaway & blowing away the BMW. You could see Galati hydroplaning, so I'd like to hear what was going on there.

:cheers:

Finnus

:addict: :addict: :addict:

[Speedracer]

Marcus, the Champion team engineer, told me they were running intermediate rains because they had done so poorly in practice on the full rains. This could have contributed to the BMW's superiority. Their biggest problem he said is weight with the RS6s coming in at around 3400 lb.

[Finnus]

Speed,

Even at 3400#s they've managed to shed 600+#s - that's impressive.

Finnus

[Speedracer]

I believe it's called content deletion. No NAV, no Bose, no Recaros, no trunk, no bumpers, no dash per se, no mufflers.

Speed

[Finnus]

I believe it's called content deletion. No NAV, no Bose, no Recaros, no trunk, no bumpers, no dash per se, no mufflers.

Sounds like when you have to abandon your car in the South Bronx!

[krabu]

Originally posted by Finnus
Sounds like when you have to abandon your car in the South Bronx!

*LOL* :hihi: :hihi:

[audifan]

Yeah they were hydroplaning alot. There was a puddle the size of a lake right before the up hill turn and i could see galati working the wheel alot just to keep the car straight. I really don't think the A6 sedan body is the race car type though. It stuck out of the pack of porches and corvettes (mainly because it was so far ahead.:D ). But what a better way to sell cars then to prove them at the track, even though they are all pre-ordered already.

[Benman]

Originally posted by Finnus
Sounds like when you have to abandon your car in the South Bronx!

obviously, you've been there once or twice :hihi: :cheers:

ben:addict:

[Finnus]

obviously, you've been there once or twice

Ben,

Enough to know better!

Finnus :roll: :cheers:
:addict: :addict: :addict: :roll:

[Benman]

finnus,

i finally got to see the actuall race on speed channel over the
weekend. galati's "accident" SUCKED. fitzgerald TOTALLY
punted him off the track on purpose. not a very classy act at
all!!! the commentators were slamming fitzgerald's actions for
a good 15- 20 minutes. all well, at least probst is currently the
points leader:cheers:

ben:addict: :addict: :race:

[Finnus]

Ben,

From where I was I couldn't see Galati's wreck. I'm glad I didn't, it would have really pissed me off.

I wonder how they're doing with their protest of the M3's tires? I just checked the Champion web site, and there's no update.

Finnus

:addict: :cheers: :addict:

[Benman]

Finnus,

you're right. you're glad you didn't see it. i was pissed at the
unsportsmanlike conduct displayed. even my cousin who is
not audi's biggest fan thought it was pretty crappy.

as for the tires, i have'nt heard anything as well. but probst
is still the points leader.:cheers:

ben:addict:

[Speedracer]

Finnus-
If you had stuck around for the Trans-Am race you would have seen Bobby Sak do exactly the same thing to Brian Simo. He couldn't get by so he pushed him in the Esses and spun him off. Simo was in 2nd place and ended up 7th. Sak finished 2nd.
Speed

[audifan]

Results to Champions protest,

SCCA Pro Racing officials announced today the results of a protest filed following Round Four of the SCCA Speed GT Championship at Lime Rock Park. The provisional results, with Bill Auberlen winning the event, have now been declared official, with no changes made to the final finishing order.

The protest, filed following the event, was regarding the decision by the winning team to run the same size rain tire on all four wheels. SCCA Pro Racing officials have determined that a great deal of ambiguity exists in the rulebook regarding the use of rain tires and procedures used to decide tire choice during a wet race. This ambiguity has resulted in reasonable individuals interpreting the rules, for this specific area, in different fashions. Because of this, SCCA Pro Racing officials have declined to hear the protest.

“The appeal was timely and well founded,” said Mitch Wright , SCCA Pro Racing Vice President and General Manger. “We will be issuing a technical bulletin before the next event in regard to this portion of the rulebook.”


Champion Racing has decided to appeal the decision by SCCA Pro Racing .

MOTORSPORTS VORTEX.COM

[luv2xlr8]

As speedracer said we were talking to the guys down at the champion truck for a long time. While speed was sitting up on the hill freezing to death, i was down talking to Pobst and Galati about the race and about the car(both the race and production versions). They said that for anyone who isnt a experianced racer, it(the production version) would be a handfull, this kind of freeked out my mother:D. But after talking to them for a while they signed a picture for me and gave me part of the wrecked front bumper. Ill attach picts in another post(they are too big) :incar: :race:

[luv2xlr8]

here is the pict of the carbon fiber/kevlar bumper

[luv2xlr8]

here is the pict of the pict Pobst, Galati and the head crew member signed for me

[Benman]

luv2xlr8,

those are really cool memorabilia, especially the front air splitter.
wish i could of been there with you guys:cheers:

Ben:addict:

[Speedracer]

Originally posted by Benman
wish i could of been there with you guys:cheers:
Ben:addict: [/B]

Ben—
Unless you love being wet and cold, be careful what you wish for. :-)

Speed

[Benman]

Originally posted by Speedracer
Ben—
Unless you love being wet and cold, be careful what you wish for. :-)

Speed
ahhh... but that's the point. i love the rain, and i love 45-55
degree weather:D doesn't make sense that i'm living in so cal
but good quattro conditions:cheers:

ben:addict: